That's an interesting outcome. Id say if its working dont knock it! Maybe your perceived hunger signals were in fact stomach acid issues. Its totally possible.

I felt starving hungry constantly when i 1st went keto. Even when i ate to maintenance calories i was still very hungry. I still lowered my calories gradually, all the time feeling hungry, but i figured that was part of suddenly being in a calorie deficit as my body was expecting more food because i was eating at an excess, previously. I just pushed through it as best i could each day, counting down the seconds to my next bite of food, whilst still gradually reducing my calories. Every now and again, if i felt particularly weak/hungry/tired... 'hangry!.. i upped my calories to maintenance for a day and this helped to refill the tanks and renewed my strength to become accustomed to a greater deficit for the following few days. Finally ive settled at 1000-1300 calories (1000-1150 in the week and 1200-1400 at the weekend, still with the odd 'metabolism re-set day', eating anywhere up to maintenance calories (but staying below 20g carbs) when i feel the need. Now im finding the hunger is under control 60% of the time, especially when im busy. I dont know for sure, but i imagine i would be even hungrier on a high-carb, low-fat diet. I do feel like im teetering on the borderlines of this sacred satiation effect from keto though - slowly i am becoming satisfied on less food for longer. I think it just takes some of us a lot longer than others to get used to it - particularly if we've cut our calories considerably also.

I do try to remind myself that a bit of hunger wont hurt me. Sure, its nice to feel satisfied all the time, but its that desire to feel full all the time that caused me to be overweight in the 1st place. If i feel hungry but dont have any calories left (i log my whole day in advance so i know exactly what i can eat, when), i try to comfort myself with the knowledge that i have food coming in however many hours, and food the next day and the day after that. I dont need to be scared of starving... just feeling hungry for a while. I also tell myself that my body will have the exact right amount of calories by the end of the day, so there is no need for me to worry that im not getting enough food. Just push through, drink lots and lots and lots to fill your tummy, and think of all that glorious fat melting away.

Easier said than done sometimes but for me its something im working hard on. I figure in life there is always a pay-off. "You dont get owt for nowt", as they say in Derbyshire. Anything worth doing takes some effort. For me the pay-off for losing weight is intermittent hunger. If i can sustain successful weightloss i'll accept these times of hunger as my payment, my effort towards achieving my weight-loss goals.

I do believe that hunger will decrease in time, though. Im starting to experience increased satiation with 1 BPC all day until dinner, at least 4 days a week (the days im most occupied), so it does improve. Im hopeful that eventually the periods of hunger will dissipate, but truly, for the average human being, to never feel hungry at a calorie deficit is probably not natural (it could even signify your metabolism is slowing down and adjusting your maintenance to the lower calories??)

Anyhoo, a very long way round of saying you're not alone, stick with it

EbonyDahlia wrote: »

For the last week though, I have taken a 24 hour heartburn/indigestion pill in the morning with my BPC, and guess what? While I wouldn't say I'm completely free of wanting to eat, I'm not stomach growlingly hungry before each meal.

I haven't had any actual heartburn symptoms which is why I didn't think it was indigestion, this has been more of an experiment. As in "I think I'm hungry, but I don't think I should be hungry, perhaps it's something else".

I have the same problem and when I googled why I am hungry all the time. I mean like all the time it said it may be antacid. And even though you don't have heartburn it could just stay in your lower stomach and be the cause. So I started taking daily antacid pills and it did help a bunch. Like right now I just ate dinner less than 30 min ago. Had a pork chop and squash casserole with peppers and cheese. It was delicious. I'm hungry. It makes no sense to me because at the same time I feel like if I eat another bite I'll explode. It's very frustrating. I feel your pain.

This is the third time I have done low carb. The first time was many years ago when I did the old zero carb Atkin's diet. I was starving hungry all the time. Supposedly, we didn't need to count calories, so I didn't. What I really wanted was a nice piece of celery, but ate bacon instead. I kept it up for a month and gained a horrendous amount of weight. Not only that, but I was crabby and miserable. The next time was about 10 years ago when I tried to keep my carbs down to 20 gr. I did lose weight, but I remember being really hungry and short tempered all the time. It wasn't something I could keep up for the rest of my life. This time has been totally different. I keep my carbs at about 60 gr a day and eat a slight calorie deficit. (1200 without counting exercise calories). I am very very careful about my micro nutrients. Those 60 gr of carbs are all in the form of nutrient dense low carb veggies. I eat about 6 cups of leafy greens every day, and also consume a lot of healthy fat, in the form of avocados, coconut fat, and olive oil. I am never hungry. I have finally found something I can live with for the rest of my life. I won't go into detail here about all the other wonderful things that are happening to my body, my hormones, and my moods, but I am totally thrilled.

I am totally convinced that my hunger has actually been cravings for nutrients that I wasn't getting in my food. I know this doesn't apply to everyone who is experiencing hunger, but just thought I would put it out there as my own experience.

@EbonyDahlia I too have no symptoms, or no normal symptoms of heartburn or reflux. Recently though I went to an allergist about issues with my throat swelling when eating certain foods. I tested negative for everything. She suggested it could be from reflux, I told her twice I don't have reflux. She said that I may and not know it, that but everyone has the traditional signs for it. She put me on a three month course of omeprazole, I am a month and a half in and the episodes have lessened substantially.

So yes it's possible that what you're feeling is reflux related, especially if medication helps. You should definitely talk to your doctor about it.

I drink coffee and eat spicy foods, snack on jalapeño peppers

Sometimes my stomach has too much acid

I feels something like hungry

A tums on occasion and it calms the acid from 4 cups of coffee! I know.... Drink less coffee

But it is not hunger.

Bodies are complicated

I lost my owners manual.

I hate to say it, but I agree that hunger is just part of weight loss/weight management. Sometimes I get tired of feeling hungry and I will say "screw it" with regard to calories and just eat til I am good and full- making sure to keep my choices low carb. If I don't do that every once in awhile (once a week or so) and go too many days in a row feeling hungry, then it increases the likelihood I will go completely off course and binge on carbage. Also, I make sure to balance my higher calorie day with one or two lower calorie days after to make sure I don't gain.

Just a thought... but is your fat intake high enough?